Reviewer: Tracy Love and Leprechauns by Zara Keane
Series: Ballybeg series #3
Also in this series: Love and Shenanigans, Love and Mistletoe
Publication Date: June 23rd 2015
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Series Rating:
Falling for her ex…
Olivia Gant is determined to escape her abusive husband and build a new life. Only desperation drives her to rent business premises from Jonas O'Mahony, the man who tattooed her behind and broke her heart. Can she maintain a haughty distance?Jonas is a struggling single father. The last person he wants next door is the beautiful-but-infuriating Olivia. A childcare crisis forces him to strike a bargain with her: the lease to the cottage in return for babysitting. Can he resist her allures?
When Olivia's ex is clobbered to death with a garden gnome, the fickle finger of suspicion points at Olivia and Jonas. Can they prove their innocence, or is their happily ever after doomed?
Tracy’s review of Love and Leprechauns (Ballybeg #3) by Zara Keane
Olivia is a woman who has had a miserable married life. She married Aidan Gant for financial security but got nothing but grief for the years they were married. No amount of money is worth living with Aidan who is a cruel and violent man.
Olivia’s dream of opening a café finally comes to fruition with the help of her one-time boyfriend Jonas O’Mahoney’s cottage. This also is the first step in the pair becoming closer and starting a relationship. That’s all put to the test when Aidan if found dead the detective in charge of the case is determined to charge either Olivia or Jonas and he’s blinded to any other suspect. Luckily they have friends and acquaintances that can help them in their time of need.
This was a love story/mystery and different from the first two in the series. As this had the mystery involved it was a lighter on the romance, imho. The reason for this was A) Jonas and Olivia had been in a previous relationship when they were teens and had also been good friends so they already knew each other and B) as the focus of the story was on who killed Aidan that left less time for romance and C) this story also involved Jonas’s autistic son, Luca, and he took up a portion of the story as well.
I must say that I enjoyed Olivia and Jonas getting to know each other once again. When they had been dating before there was a tragedy with Jonas’s brother and as his mother blamed Olivia for the accident they had drifted apart. At the beginning of the book I was uncertain as to why Olivia had such anger toward Jonas and he actually believed her to be a snob. They had obviously grown up but had made assumptions about the other without all the facts. On top of their apparent dislike for each other was the fact that Olivia was trying to hide her true married life from everyone in town, including her best friends. Once she opened up to one and all Jonas was able to see that she was still the same good person she’d always been. The support that Jonas and Olivia gave each other throughout the investigation into Aidan’s murder was truly touching as well.
I loved Luca’s involvement in this book. He was such a sweet and intelligent boy and I adored how close Olivia got to him despite her awkwardness with him at first.
The story was a good one and I really enjoyed reading it. I love the way that Keane sets up her stories and I’m looking forward to the next couple to fall in love in Ballybeg.
Rating: 4 out of 5
This title is available from Beaverstone Press LLC. You can buy it here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I have the first 2 in this series (I won them in a comp) they are next up on the ereader 😀